This is the start of the portrait process. The outline and a few details. When I have that correct, then I'm ready to lay on the washes. The first washes are thin - mostly water. I typically use red and browns for the skin tones. There's nothing magical about those colors; they are the colors I like in my portraits. Sometimes, I will use shades of yellow. This material and sketches and paintings are in a new book I'm writing: "My Art" - Why I paint and how I select my material, and why I paint certain people, places and things. What are my feelings, and more importantly, what are the models feeling?
